Posted by Bryna Bear aka Gluten Free Baking Bear
I am posting this recipe as a service to those who want to eattraditional Puerto Rican holiday food but are now vegetarian and also to helpthose who cook for them.
Pasteles are a root plant paste with a meat filling that is wrapped inplantain leaves or paper, tied and boiled. They are like Mexican tamales using different rootvegetables instead of corn to make the paste. These pasteles are made bysubstituting tofu (gasp) for meat in a traditional pastel recipe.
My family (just including my siblings and me and our children andspouses) is one big American melting pot. We are a mix of Russian/LatvianJewish, Puerto Rican, Hungarian, German, Thai, Japanese, Swedish and Jamaican cultures andtraditions. We celebrate Chanukah,Christmas, Passover and Easter.Our holiday meals include foods from all different countries. We all love to eat.
As with many interfaith and culturalmarriages, ours has evolved over the years and we have formed our owntraditions. At this time of yearwe celebrate Chanukah with Latkes, rugelach and Menorah lighting. We also celebrate Christmas withChristmas trees and a typical Puerto Rican holiday dinner of pernil alhorno, pastels, arroz con gondules, maduros andflan.
Our son has been vegan for over five years now and I have learned toadjust all the family holiday meals to make sure that he is well fed (I assumethat feeding our children well– no matter what age – is the desire of allmothers of every culture).
Making pasteles is time consuming and takes some practice to form and tie them well. In the old daysit was a family project that took hours of peeling and hand grating to form themasa (paste), now a days it is muchfaster and easier using a food processor.
My two favorite Puerto Rican cookbooks are Puerto Rican Cuisine inAmerica by OswaldRivera and Puerto Rican Cookery by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli. Rivera’s recipes are very down home and Valldejuli’s recipesare more gourmet. This recipe isbased on the pastel recipe from Rivera’s cookbook.
VEGAN PASTELES
Ingredients
Tofu Filling
3 Tbs. | Olive Oil |
1 pkg. | Firm Tofu – cut into bite sized cubes |
½ cup | Pimento stuffed Green Spanish Olives |
¼ cup | Capers |
1 8-oz. can | Tomato Sauce – I use Goya Spanish Style |
½ cup | Roasted Red Peppers from a jar – chopped |
1 16-oz. can | Chick Peas |
½ cup | Raisins |
½ cup | Olive Oil |
To taste | Sea Salt and Pepper |
½ cup | Water |
1 | Unsalted Vegetable Bouillon Cube |
½ tsp. | Summer Savory (optional – this herb prevents gas from beans and also adds a nice subtle flavor to foods) |
Paste/Masa
10 | Green Banana (guineas) |
1 lb. | Yautia – peeled and cut into pieces that will fit into a food processor feeding tube. |
1 lb. | Pumpkin (calabasa) – peeled, seeded and cut into chunks |
2 large | Potatoes – peeled and cut into large pieces |
2 large | Green Plantains |
2 cups | Vegetable Oil – I use canola oil |
1 cup | Annatto Seeds |
1 Tbs. | Salt |
24 | Plantain leaves or Pastele Papers |
12 | Pieces of kitchen twine cut into 3-ft. pieces |
½ - 1 cup | Soy or rice or other non-dairy milk (may or may not be needed depending upon the moistness of the vegetables) |
Directions
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| Achiote oil - annatto seeds heated in oil. |
To make the achiote (annatto oil),place the cup of annatto seeds and two cups of oil in a saucepan and heat overa low flame. Stir until the oil isa uniform red color. Do not overheat the oil; once it is warm it takes less than five minutes to get the rightcolor. Remove from the heat andlet the achiote cool. Pour the cooled mixture through astrainer into a bowl or pot. Ifind that one 5 ounce container of annatto seeds works fine, even though it isa tad under 1 cup. A word ofcaution if you have never worked with annatto seeds before. This seed is a natural food coloringand it will stain your clothes, wood tables, plastic sink mats, etc. Be sure to wear an apron and to usecare when working with it.I cover the table with a plastic lined disposable tablecloth to protectthe table and make clean up easier.This whole pastel making process is a bit messy.
To make the filling, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a largepot. Sauté cubed pieces of tofufor 1-2 minutes.
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| Tofu cut into cubes sauteing in oil. |
Add olives, capers (I don’t like them whole, but I love the taste so Imince them up before adding to the pot.), tomato sauce and chopped roastedpeppers. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Next add the chickpeas, raisins, ½ cup olive oil, summer savory (ifusing), water and vegetable cube.Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper totaste. Turn off the heat and letit cool while you make the paste/masa.
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| Tofu filling all cooked. |
To make the paste or masa, washand peel all the plantains, bananas, yautia, potatoes and pumpkin. Peeling plantains and green bananasturns your hands a bit black, so use gloves if you want your nails to stayclean looking. I cut off the endsand cut a slit in the skin and then run my fingers along the slit between thebanana and the skin in order to peel it.
Use the grating wheel of the food processor first to grate all thevegetables into smaller pieces before blending them into a paste with theregular processor blade. Theyautia is especially hard to blend into a paste if you do not make it intosmaller pieces first.
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| All the root vegetables, plantains and bananas grated by the food processor. |
Once the vegetables go through the grating wheel. Switch the food processor blade to theusual one and then add ¼ of the grated vegetables to the processor bowl. Process until smooth. Add a few tablespoons of soymilk tomoisten the mixture if it is not getting smooth. Repeat this process until all the vegetables are ground intoa smooth paste.
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| The vegetables, bananas and plantains made into a smooth paste in the food processor. Some soy milk was added to moisten and help make the paste/masa smoother. |
Add the salt and ½ cup of the achiote/annatto oil mixture that has been cooledand strained. Mix well.
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| Adding achiote to the paste/masa. |
Gather all you will need on your workspace. Place your bowl of masa/paste, the pot of tofu filling, the bowlor pot of achiote, plantain leaves orpapers and pieces of string on the table.You will need a tablespoon for the achiote/annatto oil, a large spoon for thefilling and one large spoon for the masa/paste.
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| A bowl of masa (paste), a pot of achiote, a pot of tofu filling, a roll of pastel papers and string cut into 3-foot pieces. |
If using plantain leaves, you must treat them first by wiping them witha damp cloth and then heating them over an open flame on the stove. Use a moderate flame. Tongs work well to hold theleaves. Turn them and heat them,but be sure not to burn the leaves.
I use pastel papers because in New Jersey I have never seen plantainleaves and I rarely get to Brooklyn where one can actually find some.
Pastel papers are the same as parchment paper, cut into 12-inch by18-inch pieces. The papers aresold by weight in Spanish food markets.
To assemble the pastel place a leaf or paper on the table. Spread a tablespoonful of the achiote around the center of the paper. The oil prevents the cooked pastel from sticking to the paper or leaf, so that you can remove the cooked pastel and eatit.
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| Spreding achiote onto the center of the pastele paper. |
Spread about 2 tablespoons of masa/paste into a rectangle shape on top of theachiote.
Put about 2 tablespoons of the tofu filling on top of the paste. The goal is to have some of the tofufilling in each bite of the pastel when you eat it.
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| Achiote spread on the paper with some masa on top spread into a rectangle. Some tofu filling in top of the paste. |
Fold the paper in half length-wise.
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| Paper with paste and filling on it folded in half lengthwise. |
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| Edge of the paper folded to make a lip. |
Fold the edge of the paper to make a lip. And then fold once more. This double folded lip of paper will keep the contents ofthe pastel from leaking out when you boil them.
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| Paper with fillings folded in half again length wise. |
Push the filling toward the center and fold the paper in half again.
Fold a double lip on the edge of one of the sides and fold this side overthe filling.
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| Folding the first side over the pastel. |
Fold a double lip on the edge of the other end of the pastel and pushthe filling towards the center as you hold the first folded end in place. Fold the second edge over the firstone. Turn the pastel over to keepthe edges in place and form another pastel.
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| Pushing the filling towards one side while lifting the other side to fold over the pastel. |
Place 2 pasteles together with the folded edges facing each other.
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| The pastel with both sides of the paper folded over the center. |
Take a string and fold it in half, form a horseshoe shaped middle andspread the string ends apart.Place the two pasteles on top of the string.
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| One pastel on top of the other with the folded sides facing each other on top of the folded string. |
Thread the ends of the string through the horseshoe bend part of thefolded string. Pull the ends totighten the string around the pasteles.
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| Pulling string ends through the loop of the folded string. |
Separate the strings and pull in opposite directions towards the sidesof the pasteles package.
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| String ends beginning to be pulled to each side of the pastele. |
Wrap the strings around to the bottom side of the pasteles. Flip the package over and tie a knot.
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| Package flipped over and ready for the knot to be tightly tied. |
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| Pasteles package tied with a knot. |
I make tofu and regularpasteles. I use two differentkinds of string to indicate what type of filling is inside. The thicker twine is for the tofu onesand the thin string for the pork ones.I used both strings to indicate a third type of pastel. One guest this year cannot eat potatoesso I formed some tofu pasteles and tied them with thick and thin strings beforeadding the potatoes to the rest of the masa/paste and forming the rest of the tofuand pork pasteles.
Repeat the pastel making process until all the filling and paste areused. This recipe makes about 24pasteles.
I always make them ahead, as this process is way too time consuming andmessy to do on Christmas morning.I place the pasteles in plastic bags and freeze them until I am ready tocook them.
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| Pasteles in pot after boiling for an hour. |
To cook pasteles, boil water in a large pot. Add packets of pasteles so that they fit with some extraroom and are covered with water. Ican usually fit 4 packets in one large pot. Boil, uncovered, for 1 hour.
To serve, cut the string and open the paper. Turn the pastele out onto a serving platter. If it sticks a little use a knife-edgeto help it off of the paper.
Serve with rice and pigeon peas, arroz con gondules. Imake the rice without any meat for vegans.
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| Pastel with rice and kidney beans. |
